The impact of emotions on our health has been know for thousands of years in cultures around the world. In the Bible, Proverbs 17:22-23 says: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) believes that emotions are a major internal causation of disease. The TCM’s point view is that everything is comprised of energy. Our physical body and mind are just two different expressions, or frequencies, of the same energy. So what are emotions? Emotion is “energy in motion.” The word itself is from the Latin verb meaning “to move”. And emotional energy is very natural. Emotions really are the result of our mind processing and interpreting our life experiences. This ability to feel various emotions is a wonderful capacity as a living being. We experience our world not only through our thoughts but more fully by how we feel, good or bad. Emotions can enrich us but it can also destroy our lives if we don’t understand them wisely. For example, if you are irritated by someone and never expressed to resolve it, the irritation could become anger or resentment. Brooding on a negative emotion for extended periods of time could take a toll on the physical body.
It is necessary to be mindful that our emotions are powerful energetic frequencies that impact across all of our body’s functions. Emotions are not just thoughts secured within the recesses of our brain.
Like an accelerant, emotions add power to our thoughts. Normally, thoughts are neutral and don’t consume much energy by themselves. It is our emotions that amplify those thoughts. The joy of an inspiration could lead to the motivation to take action, which becomes a self-gratifying loop. In the same vein, grief can lead to sadness could lead to further self-harm. Understanding our emotions allows us to better appreciate them and to know where they may lead us, particularly the harmful ones. In science, quantum physics proves that energy and mass are interchangeable. This is why our emotion plays such a important role in our physical health, as stated by Traditional Chinese Medicine. And there are many scientific studies to show the impact of emotions in our body. In 1988 the British journal Psychology and Psychotherapy published a 10-year study which concluded that “emotional stress was more predictive of death from cancer or cardiovascular disease than from smoking.”
Personally, I do deep breathing exercises, yoga and qigong to manage every day stress. I also undertake regular acupuncture treatments and body talk sessions. And for lingering negative emotions, it sometimes takes the courage to reach out for the wisdom offered by friends, family and outside counsel. No measure is perfect but a combination of positive actions can help regulate and hopefully alleviate our deeper traumas. How do you manage your stress and lingering negative emotions?
